Free Scrambled Babies by Babe Hayes Page B

hand.  “It’s okay.  I’ve got it, Stevo.”
    Steve bent down anyway.  He noticed a paperback book and picked it up.  “ The Sky Streaks of Black ?  What?  This is a romance novel!  Look at the cover, for god’s sake!  You read romance novels, Pony?”  He laughed gently.  “Pony, the mod, former Olympic women’s swim team captain, the tough, hard-boiled fight announcer?”  And this time he laughed harder.  “You mean to tell me she reads girl books?”
    Pony stayed down on her knees, red-faced.  She looked up pleadingly.  “Stevie, don’t tell!  Please!  I beg you—Stevo—please!  They’ll laugh me out of the business!  I’ll be ruined!  Don’t tell, okay, Stevo?  Please?  I’ll do anything, Steverino!  Anything, if only you don’t tell anybody!”
    Steve smiled broadly.  “Really?  Well, for openers, you can limit your names for me to Steve—that’s S-T-E-V-E!” 
    “Steve—okay, Steve—got it!  Anything, anything, honest to god!  Okay, it’s Steve.  From now on, I swear to—”
    “And you can—” Steve absentmindedly turned the book to the back cover.  There, bewitching back at him, was a photograph of Paeton McPhilomy!  He let out a yelp.  “Jesus Christ!  It’s her!  It is definitely her!  Son of a bitch!  That mouth—that son-of-a-bewitching mouth!  There’s no way I wouldn’t recognize that one-of-a-kind, man-killer mouth!”  And he made a sound as if he had sunk his teeth into a big bite of perfect prime rib.  “Paeton McPhilomy!  Romance writer!”  Then the revelation came.  “No wonder she—”  Whoops!  Watch what you say, Steve!
    Steve watched Pony’s wide eyes keeping him in her sights as she got up.  She kept her distance.  Nothing about his interest in Paeton seemed to be overriding Pony’s fear of being exposed as a closet romance reader.  “Steve, I swear to you.  I will never again call you—”
    But the point was that Paeton McPhilomy didn’t want bad publicity either.  He laughed to himself.  We both have been sitting on pins and needles waiting for the other to report the switch.   He was safe now.  Just as Paeton was.  How amazing!
    Steve tossed the novel on his desk and walked over to Pony with arms outstretched, stopping her in her tracks.  She backed away some. “Stevo is okay, Pony.  Stevie, Steverino, Stevisimo, Stevie-weevie, itty-bitty-pretty-Stevie—I don’t care, Pony.  I love you, Pony!  I love it that you read romance novels.”  She was finally pressed against the wall.  Steve grabbed her and gave her a big, fraternal kiss full on the mouth.
    Pony stood motionless.  Her baffled expression betrayed her complete confusion.  Steve had kissed her, but he could see she knew he hadn’t really “kissed” her.  She appeared to be evaluating the kiss as she wiped the back of her hand deliberately across her mouth. 
    Then she got back to the importance of protecting her tough reputation.  “Anyway, okay, I’ll call you anything I want.  I don’t get it, but okay.  But you won’t tell, right?  My secret is safe with you, right, Ste—vie?” 
    Suddenly she put her hand to her mouth again.  “Hey, wait a minute—what’s wrong with my mouth?”  Her tone betrayed that she was hurt or insulted, or both.  “Wait a minute!  How the hell do you know Paeton McPhilomy has a—how did you put it—a bewitching mouth?”
    Steve picked up the book and showed Pony the back cover.  “Here.  Tell me, is that a great mouth?”
    “Christ, I don’t know.  I don’t go that way, Ste-vie.  You should know that.”  Pony paused thoughtfully.  She tilted her head at him.  “I can call you Stevie?”
    Steve laughed warmly.  “Yes, you can call me Stevie.  And your secret?  Safe with me, Pony.  It might as well be locked up in Fort Knox.”  Then he walked over to Pony, grabbed her by the elbows, and ushered her out of the office.  “I’ll call you, Pony.  Maybe we can have